Faith without Works Is Dead

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters,^[a] if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? ¹⁵ If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? ¹⁷ So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. ¹⁹ You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. ²⁰ Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren? ²¹ Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. ²³ Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. ²⁴ You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another road? ²⁶ For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.

Temptations to Sin

⁴² “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me,^[a] it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. ⁴³ If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell,^[b] to the unquenchable fire.^{[c] 45} And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell.^{[d][e] 47} And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell,^{[f] 48} where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

⁴⁹ “For everyone will be salted with fire.^{[g] 50} Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it?^[h] Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Teaching about Divorce

10 He left that place and went to the region of Judea and^[i] beyond the Jordan. And crowds again gathered around him; and, as was his custom, he again taught them.